The Backstreet Boys. The Spice Girls. N’SYNC. The Sex Pistols. What do all four of these groups have in common? They were manufactured bands. Which means, they were probably comprised of members that didn’t know each other very well. All of them did OK I guess, but that was the entire point of them being together in the first place.

That isn’t the case with Edmonton’s Scenic Route to Alaska. You might just notice a few differences between them and The Backstreet Boys, and not just a lack of synchronized dancing. The band is made up of three best friends, from the same town with the same creative drive. They grew up together ’round Riverdale, and decided to share their love for music onstage with lucky audiences. This trifecta of friendship has become a regular fixture on the music community in town, and across Alberta. You might have heard them on the radio, when their set at Canmore Folk Festival was aired on CKUA, or when they were SONIC 102.9’s Band of the Month. Perhaps you saw them on stage with Kat Danser at the Edmonton Folk Fest, on Balcony TV, or maybe you’ve seen them perform at local fundraisers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but N’SYNC didn’t play many non-profit fundraising events.

…Or maybe, you haven’t had the chance to see them yet! If so, it’s a good thing they’ve got an album release party this Friday at the Pawn Shop!

These days, the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll cliche,” is, well…a cliché. Rock bands party hard. Rock bands sing about partying hard. When they want to divert from songs about partying hard, they write songs about girls. And totally rocking. Escapism serves its purpose – it’s fun, and if you don’t read into it too much, you aren’t offended by the materialism, misogyny, or badly written riffs and lyrics. Cause you know, there’s fireworks and stuff.

Theory of a Deadman trying out for Zoolander II

But every once and a while, there’s a band that breaks from the mold, but is still somehow totally rocking. The Frank is a band that manages exactly that. Take their new 3 More Beers EP. From the title, you can infer three things: that it’s a sequel, they like beer, and if they like beer they MUST BE TOTALLY ROCKING! And you’d be right. However, that’s where the conventions end.

You know, you’re right to say that Sam Phillips sure recorded a lot of good black and white artists down in Memphis in the 1950s.

The Fantastic Four

BUT – how the heck did he do it? What happened to musicians having to go to major music industry centres like Los Angeles or New York to get a start on their recording careers? For example, didn’t Ray Charles have to leave Seattle in just 1950 for California to get going on what would eventually culminate in Jamie Foxx getting famous and Kayne West shamelessly ripping him off?

The thing of it was, there were big changes to recording technology following World War II. And when an innovator like Sam Phillips came along to seize on untapped talent that was the Memphis region’s musicians, well, the rest is history.